A rare Chinese sturgeon - of a species dating back to the dinosaur age 140 million years ago - died yesterday at Ocean Park, four days after being released into an aquarium for public viewing.
The park's vets believe the fish, the smallest of five presented to the park last month by China's National Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Association, was killed by one of its new neighbours in the Atoll Reef attraction - a barracuda.
The 1.1-metre, three-year-old sturgeon, known as No5, showed signs of injuries on Saturday. It was treated and reported to be recovering, but aquarists found it dead at about 12.30am yesterday.
The other sturgeons were removed from display until new arrangements have been made to house the eight barracudas.
The ancient fish had not yet been named and were designated as No1 to No5, according to their size.
Atoll Reef, one of the park's major attractions and designed with an Indo-Pacific coral island theme, houses about 1,500 fish and sharks from close to 250 species.
'The wounds on the fish indicated that it had been bitten, and the marks around the wound are consistent with those produced by barracudas,' the park said.